The first reactions to the the Super Mario Bros. Movie are mostly positive, but there’s still nothing in terms of game promos.

In case you forgot, the long-awaited Super Mario Bros. Movie is arriving in cinemas in just a couple of days on Wednesday April 5.

A premiere screening has already taken place, which means those lucky enough to attend have been sharing spoiler-free thoughts online.

Although comments at this stage, before top critics get to see the film, are almost always positive, there are still a few that were less impressed, with one even calling it boring. From a gaming perspective, though, it’s still baffling how Nintendo has done barely any promotions for it in terms of actual games.

Obviously, Nintendo has held a few of its Nintendo Directs to introduce the movie’s cast and debut new trailers, and there’s a whole range of toys and even bath products for kids, and kids at heart, to buy.

However, in terms of actual games, or even just DLC, there’s nothing. In fact there hasn’t been a new mainline Super Mario game since Super Mario Odyssey in 2017 (just Bowser’s Fury in the 2021 Super Mario 3D World remaster). Similarly, rumours of a new Donkey Kong game have so far come to nothing.

Wahoo! #TheSuperMarioBrosMovie is the ultimate love letter to every era of Mario. Loved the humor & especially Jack Black’s Bowser. I felt the same way watching the movie as I do playing the games. It’s just joyful. Also, stay for the credits! pic.twitter.com/ZcKn17E3PO

The #SuperMarioMovie: I really wanted to like it but I did not.

A few solid scenes capture the spirit of the game but mostly it’s an overly goofy, bare-bones plot, filled w/ bad jokes & worse song choices.

It looks great but I was more bored & annoyed than entertained. pic.twitter.com/D3CnNvbaaN

If not a full-fledged game, then some movie themed DLC would seem an obvious choice, like movie versions of the characters or a themed racecourse being added to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (especially with the movie having an entire Mario Kart set piece).

At one point, there was fan speculation of Super Mario Odyssey DLC when Nintendo began promoting it again after six years, but none of that has happeneed.

So far, the only real movie promo Nintendo has offered is a sheet of stickers in the new Mario themed Nintendo Switch bundle. Unless they’ve got a very last minute surprise that is the sum total of their efforts to promote the movie via video games.

Everyone is great, especially Jack Black’s menacing Bowser (which I expected to be good, however Chris Pratt surprised me- charismatic & wonderful).

But Charlie Day’s Luigi is the highlight of the movie. Luigi’s Mansion movie WHEN #SuperMarioMovie @supermariomovie @illumination pic.twitter.com/wkL1S88el6

#SuperMarioBrosMovie is probably Illumination’s best looking film to date, but that’s about it. It’s a cookiecutter of a cookiecutter plot that would have nothing but abysmal needle drops to offer if you removed the recognizable iconography.

At least it’s short! pic.twitter.com/tcIUt6Lmnd

Nintendo and Lego did announce some new Lego Mario sets last month but none of them are explicitly based on the movie. In fact the Donkey Kong figure is clearly based on the Rare iteration and not the new redesign from the movie.

Admittedly, none of this is unusual for video game movies. Rarely have movies ever coincided with a new game release, in fact they almost seem to go out of their way to avoid it.

The Assassin’s Creed movie launched in 2016, which managed to be the first time there wasn’t a new annual release in over half a decade, while neither Sonic The Hedgehog game was accompanied by any major release – with Sonic Frontiers not arriving until well after the second one was out.

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Either way, at least the film looks like it should be pretty good, at least in terms of fan service, if nothing else.

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie is everything I could’ve wanted and more!’ reads one Tweet by zgub. ‘It was a throwback to my childhood playing Mario games. It’s just so much fun.’

GameXplain’s André Segers agrees, calling it ‘an utterly delightful thrill ride that is as joyful as it is magical.’

However, he adds that the narrative is ‘shallow’ and the movie is ‘for Mario fans first,’ which doesn’t really imply a good film in its own right.

Less impressed viewers seem to have been bored by the experience, with critic Ricky Vàlero describing it as ‘bland’ and ‘underwhelming.’

This letterbox review by backwardsman is even harsher, saying it’s ‘Exactly what you’d expect from an Illumination Mario movie. Some of the laziest writing ever. They didn’t even care because they knew how much bank it’ll make. Totally superfluous game advertisement with some proper set pieces. Incredibly unfunny.’

The irony there, of course, is that there is no game to advertise, or at least not any new ones.

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